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A solid, versatile machine that makes good coffee.

I saw this coffee maker in a box that one of my daughters had brought back from a car boot sale.

I said, "Have you just bought that?""No," she replied. "I tried to sell it, but there were no takers.""I quite fancy a coffee maker like that," I thought, so I bought it from her for a tenner.

In any other situation this would have been the bargain of the millennium so far.

However, it was only after I'd handed over the dosh that she reminded me that I'D bought it for HER as a Christmas present the year before. Totally forgot.

Nevertheless, as I hope to explain, this was still a very, very good bargain and the reason I'm flagging it up is that there are opportunities around to pick up a bargain for yourself.

~ Availability ~

Although Morphy Richards are no longer making the Mister Cappuccino in this form, you can still pick them up - some still new, some re-furbished and others second hand. You could, of course, buy the new, combi version, but then you'd probably have to pay top whack for it. I've seen them second hand for as little as £12.99 and re-furbished for as much as £72.00

~ What You Get ~

The basic unit comes with a 1.37 litre filler tank and spout on one side and a frother on the other.

On both sides there is a hot plate, the left hand side taking a clear jug to catch the coffee and the other taking a metal jug (with non stick interior) for the milk. There is a coffee holder and filter that fits beneath the water tank and a removable attachment for the frother so that you can clean it.

There is also a plastic measuring spoon, and of course a manual. The lead is understandably modest in length and comes with a fitted plug.

~ How to Use It ~

The clear jug has cup measurements marked on it, so use this to pour the desired amount of water into the filler tank. Replace the screw top firmly.

Remove the coffee holder by turning its handle about a quarter turn to the left. The coffee holder has two parts: the very solid one-piece handle and outer holder and the thinner, but nonetheless sturdy inner filter into which you place the ground coffee of your choice. The inside of the inner filter is also graduated so that you can judge how much coffee you need. Once you've re-fitted the coffee holder, you can adjust the strength of the coffee by using a slider on the front of the unit that controls the rate at which the water will pass through the coffee grounds.

Switch on the unit at the socket and also on the unit itself, where there is an illuminated button at the bottom that will change from red to green when all the water has passed through. Make sure that you have put either your cup or the coffee jug underneath the spout, on the hot plate. I forgot once and that was the only time the machine made a mess (understandably). The hot plate has a removable drip tray that will easily cope with normal drips and drops.

While your coffee is brewing you could froth some milk, should you desire. Warm milk froths best, so you could either put some milk in the metal jug at the beginning of the process and switch on the right hand hotplate, which has an illuminated button similar to the one on the other side, or you could heat some milk separately and then pour it into the jug. Don't make the mistake of using the metal milk jug in the microwave.

Hold the jug under the frother with the frother blade just under the surface of the milk and press the frother once for on and then again to turn it off. A few seconds should do it.

By this time your coffee should be ready.

~ So What's So Good About This One? ~

It looks good and it's quite compact, considering that it includes two separate operations.

The build is solid. There's a genuine feeling of quality about it.

It's quick.

It's easy to judge how much water and coffee to use, although as with anything like this you will learn with experience to make coffee that suits you.

The coffee tastes good. This is the most important part of all, surely? The water tank has a filter that minimizes the chlorine content, so maybe that helps.

The strength control slider mechanism means that you can adjust the strength to suit your mood or your coffee.

If you forget you've put it on, the hotplate will keep the coffee warm.

It will make up to ten cups in one go, but remember that these are quite small cups. If I'm making a mug for myself, I use two cups' worth of water and coffee.

You can use it to make a range of styles of coffee. espresso, Americano, cappuccino, latte etc. You can make good coffee the way YOU like it.

~ Care and Maintenance ~

You will need to site it fairly close to a socket and clear of combustible items on a firm level surface, but actually it does seem to put the heat where you want it - into the coffee. There's little escape of steam.

The usual damp cloth will keep the outside of the unit looking good.

If you use the frother, remove the plastic guard soon afterwards and wash it under the tap before the milk has a chance to dry. The blade itself can be wiped with a cloth or kitchen towel.

The drip tray can be removed to wash every now and then.

If you are using the machine again while there might still be hot steam inside, it's a good idea to loosen the water tank cap, before you unfasten the coffee holder.

So there you go. 5/5.

Phew! Think I'll go and have a nice cup of coffee.

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if you like coffee. . .

Having bought this for my parents last christmas, I am certain that they woul not mind me highly recommending it infact i often hear they have told visitors to their house that it is the best present they have ever received. the machine cost £35 pound i'm pretty sure there was an offer on at thetime, can not be certain though as it was in the run up to christmas.

The reason why is that it is does exactly what it should makes great coffee, simply and quickly. the set up is similar to the more expensive or commercial machines on a smaller more compact footprint and with a sleak curvy design, which also maximises the useful space on the machine.

Water is added by opening the thermos type lid on the top of the machine and then making sure the coffee is in the filter and tightly turned in press the button to start heating up the water. this i find is very quick from two or three minutes to maybe 8 for a full load.. a full load states 10 cups.. either they are very small cups or they use very strong coffee. realistically i would say 5/6 coffees before the coffee will begin to be burnt in the filter. There is also a slider gage which alters the strength of the coffee which comes in handy.. The whole process is very non eventful an very quite until the point of the water having almost boiled when a sound not dissimilar but quieter than an electric shower can be heard..

Other features include a milk frother, which is a must for any Latte, Cappucino, frochamochashattalatte fans. Also comes with the stainless milk jug and the glass coffee pot with markers on.. A good tip is always remember how much water you put in because it will obviously come out.. the one fault with the machine is that it does leak toward the end of the cycle rather than just flow to a stop. Another problem is the white print on the outer of the casing has washed off.. not sure what it said now.

The product takes approximately the same footprint as a double toaster and sit approx 500mm it is fairly heavy would estimate at 4to 5 kg and as my parents have no problems moving it to clean underneath it may be worth remembering. All the stainless and glass is dishwasher safe however they usually just need a rinse through. the overall build quality is pretty good the outer is of a hardened plastic which apart from the lettering rubbing off has aged well.. the seals and rubbers are all in good condition and it is in general well put together.

Please be aware ive just been made aware ive made a bit of a mistake.. this reveiw is for the 47009 not 47008.. thank you nas for bringing that to my attention.

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Good cheap coffee machine

We bought this last year when we moved into our new house and had some good use out of it. It was definatley a novelty item which we dont use much now.

To make a good cup of coffee though is easy and the flavour is so much better than rubbish instant. I actually use starbucks beans and the syrups. The time it takes to make a pot of coffee is very short only a couple of minutes and it can last for ages as you have the hotplate.

The milk frother is ok but can cause problems when you have the heat plate on the milk jug and spill some milk as it burns on, however being a non stick surface it will easily wipe off.

The system is easy to clean and easy to get the measures right as it has a guide and it says the measurements on the side of the jug.

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Easy to make coffee or cappuccino.

This is a great little coffee maker! It's got a ten cup water reservoir, but these would be small cups, so really it's more like five good sized cups or mugs. There are two main things I like to know with a coffee maker. Is it simple to use? Is it easy to wash? I think it's a yes to both of these.

To make the coffee just lift the lid and spoon the filter coffee into the mesh filter in the top. Pour the required amount of water into the reservoir beside it. There's a gauge at the side, the same as on a kettle, to show how much water there is. To make cappuccino, pour milk into the little jug. Then switch it on and wait for the coffee to trickle through and the milk to heat up. There are two options for coffee making, one quicker and one slower, depending on how strong you like your coffee. It just takes two or three minutes to make two mugs of coffee. When the milk is hot and a little steamy (not boiling), just lift it up to the frother just above it, switch on the frother and give it a whizz for about a minute. I pour the frothy milk into the cup first, then pour the hot coffee through it, but you can do it the other way around.

When it comes to washing, there's a mesh filter, for the filter coffee, which is easily removable and washable. The milk frother has a mesh cover which can be twisted off in a second, for washing. This really needs washing every time you use it. When you take it off you can see the frothing blade. This is a bit of a nuisance to unscrew, but doesn't actually need taking off to clean as it can just be wiped with a damp cloth. The milk jug has a non--stick coating, so that's easy to wash as well. So, although it might sound fiddly at first, it's really not a big issue to wash out both jugs, the frother cover and the filter. I don't make cappuccino every time, sometimes it's just black coffee.

It works well as a coffee filter, although if you use fine ground coffee, you will find some grounds in the bottom of the jug. It glugs and gurgles a fair bit as it's filtering, but it's not annoyingly noisy. The milk frother makes a loud whizzing noise, but that doesn't take long anyway. The biggest drawback is that coffee and milk drips onto the hotplates. If you don't wash it off straight away it starts to dry on and gets harder to remove.

I've had mine nearly two years now and used it every day and it hasn't let me down. I've found it's best to use skimmed milk to get a good froth. Also it doesn't froth very well if the milk isn't warm enough, so it just takes a bit of trial and error to get that right and you can make the perfect cup of cappuccino. It's also great for frothing up hot chocolate!

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Easy to use, much tastier than instant and the coffee smells great!

Morphy Richards have come up trumps again with the 47008 'Mr Cappuccino' coffee maker.

I bought this machine to replace my aging filter coffee maker, and I was pleased I did so. Making coffee with a machine such as this one not only tastes better than instant, it's a whole lot more fun as well. Rather than the usual drill of putting the kettle on and waiting for it to boil. spooning out the coffee powder and pouring in the water, this actually feels like making coffee should. Don't get me wrong, instant coffee is great sometimes, but when you have the time (and it doesn't actually take that much longer), it's a lot more enjoyable to hear the steam hissing away, and the smell of freshly made coffee lingering in the house is great!

Anyway, now onto the machine.

Making Coffee is simple, you pour the required amount of water into the tank, put the lid back on (which can be quite easy to cross thread), and then unclip the coffee powder holder. You spoon the coffee powder into the holder with the spoon provided, screw it in, and You're ready. Press the button on the machine to start it up, and you're off. The water boils very quickly and the coffee is soon flowing. Once it has finished, a green light illuminates to alert you that your coffee is ready for consumption.

The Machine is capable of making 10 cups of coffee. It does more than just make a simple cup of coffee however. It can also make 'Latte' and 'Cappucino'. To make these properly, you are apparently supposed to warm the milk up first. Well, this machine makes light work of that, simply pour the required amount of milk into the jug supplied, to turn on the milk warmer. This then warms the milk up to the right temperature, and turns itself off when done. If you wish to froth the milk, you can also use the inbuilt milk frother. This is in the form of an electric spinning arm over the milk warmer which froths the milk when you lift the jug and the attachment on the end comes into contact with the milk. On some coffee machines, the steam from the coffee making is actually used for this instead of an electric attachment, however the system on the 'Mr. Cappucino' is far easier to use and safer as well, and you don't have to froth the milk when the machine is boiling.

Morphy Richard's after sales service is very good as well. On one occasion, I broke the glass coffee jug that comes with the machine. What a disaster I thought! However, I got on the phone to Morphy Richards and explained my plight, and for a very reasonable fee the polite operator dispatched an identical jug which was with me the next day.

Other than that I have had no problems at all with this machine and the build quality is very high.